Ketamine vs. ECT: Which Works Best?

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic's Center for Behavioral Health, have just been awarded $11.8 million to compare the effectiveness of two treatments: electroconvulsive therapy versus ketamine in patients who suffer from severe treatment-resistant depression.

"Ketamine is rapidly being adopted around the country for treatment of treatment-resistant depression as an alternative to electroconvulsive therapy,'' Anand said in a statement. "However, no large-scale trials of ketamine's safety and efficacy as compared to electroconvulsive therapy have been conducted. This study will fill this evidence gap."

"Treatment-resistant depression can have a devastating impact on a person’s health and well-being,” said Dr. Joe Selby, PCORI executive director, said in a statement.

“Clinicians often don’t have a good way to predict who will respond to which therapies, so patients may have to try a range of therapies,” Selby said. “Too often it’s a frustrating series of trial and error. These studies will provide significant new information to help patients, their families and their clinicians decide more confidently which therapy will work best given their needs and preferences.”

Depression affects about one-fifth of the population. Of those, nearly one in three don't get adequate relief from the antidepressants currently available, according to a news release.